Benelux Day 2: Migration
The problem with being human is that we only live our own lives. On Day Two of my Benelux Tour, we get a chance to improve on that. Ensconced in our personal present… Continue reading
Category Archive: better conversations
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Better Travel Tip
I don’t remember where I was when I realized I was grumpy. Some airport. But the seed of what I want to harvest now was when I realized I was cranky as usual… Continue reading
What Covid did to Travel: the Good, the Bad, and the Better
English teachers call it a “feedback sandwich.” A discouraged learner might disengage, so you wrap the hard part between two tastier layers. At the end of the first tourism year after two rough… Continue reading
Answering Questions in Kazakhstan
After the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, the grasslands of Kazakhstan felt like another world. Snow and stone were remote memories, replaced by a deep vista of rolling hills and stretched plains painted with Van… Continue reading
Is it safe to go to Europe right now?
To be honest, the war in Ukraine is straining my higher principles of unity, human brotherhood, and tolerance. The reptilian part of me wants to see Moscow become a smoldering ruin. It’s just… Continue reading
Ukraine and What to Do About It
My friend in Kiev sounds exhausted. Her family lost everything when Russia invaded the Donbas, and she was just getting back on her feet when this current round of menace began. “Just a… Continue reading
My neighborhood tonight
The signs appeared about a month ago on a corner near where I live. The work of local artists, each page had the face of someone killed by police, and their name. It… Continue reading
Where to start with the New Zealand shooting
When I woke to the horrible story of the shooting in New Zealand this morning, there was a flash of sorrow for the human tragedy. Then I read more news, including the… Continue reading
Reassured in Dharamsala
When a Buddhist monk in Myanmar sprawled out over several seats in the train, or one on the bus in Malaysia blasted a radio no one else wanted to hear, or a third… Continue reading
Scared to go to Turkey
The walls were solid and strong, despite the detritus of old neglect in the corners, the spray painted confusion, and the sense of old cigarettes. And everywhere, the kind of shadows you’re supposed… Continue reading
